Hanworth Hall

Details

A late C18 landscape park laid out following advice from Humphry Repton in 1789.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

Hanworth Hall, owned by the Doughty family in the C17, burnt down in c 1700 and a new house was built by Robert Doughty, who died in 1770 at the age of seventy. It is unclear when the park shown in 1797 on Faden's map as covering c 70ha first came into existence but it is likely that Robert Doughty's successor, Robert Lee Doughty, began to lay out a park in the year that he succeeded, 1770 (Williamson 1998). In 1789 he called upon his friend Humphry Repton (1752(1818) for advice and Repton worked here from 1789 to 1790. A schematic map of 1812 shows that by this time the park had been enclosed with shelter belts to the north-east. Robert married but had no heirs so the estate passed to the children of his sister Catherine and her husband George Lukin who had family connections with the Windhams of Felbrigg (qv). Thus Philip Mayow and Admiral Lukin inherited and during their ownership in the middle years of the C19 further plantations appeared, screening the kitchen garden, Dairy Farm, the home farm in the south park, and Hanworth church (against the implied advice of Repton). After Mayow's death in 1845 his share passed to the Admiral's son W H Windham of Felbrigg whose son W F Windham and his wife lived at Hanworth. Following his early death his widow lived on at the Hall, adding a new service range in 1881. Towards the end of the century the lake was widened and the adjoining woodland extended. Eventual bankruptcy forced the sale of the estate at the end of the century, the final sale coming in 1900 when it was purchased by Joseph Gurney Barclay for his third son Henry. The site remains (1999) in private ownership.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING
Hanworth Hall lies in a rural part of north-east Norfolk, c 3km to the west of the main A140 Norwich to Cromer road and c 7km south of Cromer. Country roads form the east and north boundaries, with Hanworth village lying immediately to the north of the park. Boundary plantations form the west and part of the south boundary, the remainder being open to the surrounding farmland. The ground at Hanworth is virtually level, with the Hall to the north of centre occupying slightly raised ground overlooking the parkland and lake to the south and south-west. The River Scarrow runs from north to south through the western part of the park and is dammed to the south to create a narrow lake.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES
The Hall is approached from Hanworth village through a gateway c 200m north-north-east of the Hall. The drive runs south and divides before the north front, the service drive skirting the Hall to the west and the main drive running on to the gravelled east front. This drive was laid out at the end of the C18, probably on the advice of Humphry Repton. A second drive enters the park c 200m north of the church of St Bartholomew on the eastern boundary and runs west directly to Dairy Farm in the south park.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING
Hanworth Hall is a large country house (listed grade I) built in a double-pile plan of brick with stone dressings under a hipped slate roof. The main east facade is of two storeys with nine bays, the centre three projecting slightly under a pediment with stone dressings. The south facade has four bays and looks out over the park and lake. The Hall was built for the Doughty family c 1700 to replace an earlier house on the same site. The north service range was added at the end of the C19. To the north-west of the Hall stands a range of stables and farm buildings.

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS
The main area of ornamental gardening at Hanworth in the 1990s is contained within the walled garden (aerial photographs 1983). Yew hedging contains the courtyard to north and south of the east front, whilst long borders run west from the south wing, looking over an open lawn which in 1946 was laid out in a formal parterre. Tennis courts lie to the west of the stables and there is a further garden area within the trees north of the stables.

A pleasure ground runs west from the terrace walk along the south front. Entered through an ornamental wrought-iron gate, its paths lead to the walled garden. This walk may have been laid out as part of the work advised by Humphry Repton.

PARK
Hanworth Park covers c 90ha and lies to the south, east, and west of the Hall. Most of the area is under the plough with few surviving free-standing trees. The River Scarrow runs through the west park and is dammed c 300m to the west of the Hall to create a sinuous lake which runs for c 500m south through the park. The Tithe map of 1845 shows the lake at this time was small, only reaching its present size at the end of the C19 when it was widened and lengthened. It has been dredged and cleared during the 1990s. To the south-east, c 350m from the Hall within the arable land lies the home farm complex known as Dairy Farm, with the church of St Bartholomew c 200m to the east of this on the eastern boundary forming a visual part of the park scene. Plantations survive around much of the perimeter of the park, as do some blocks of woodland within it.

Humphry Repton's account books refer to his work including 'staking towards the kitchen garden' in 1789 and 'staking the new approach' in 1790, although he also produced watercolours showing 'before' and 'after' pictures of the views towards Hanworth church.

KITCHEN GARDEN
The walled kitchen garden lies c 300m to the north-west of the Hall. It contains a single compartment with a central circular pool, now laid to grass with shrub and herbaceous borders cut into the grass and around the boundary walls. The walled garden was already built by 1789 and may be contemporary with the building of the Hall in c 1700.

REFERENCES

D Stroud, Humphry Repton (1962), p 170
N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: North-east Norfolk and Norwich (1962), p 159
G Carter et al, Humphry Repton (1982), p 159
Country Life, no 3 (15 January 1987), pp 52-5
T Williamson, The archaeology of the landscape park, BAR Brit Ser 268 (1998), p 238

Maps
W Faden, A new topographical map of the county of Norfolk, 1797 (Norfolk Record Office)
Map of the park at Hanworth, 1812 (private collection)
A Bryant, Map of the county of Norfolk, 1826 (Norfolk Record Office)
Tithe mapfor Hanworth parish, 1845 (Norfolk Record Office)
Map of the Hanworth estate accompanying the Sale particulars, 1900 (WKC 5/424 464 x 3), (Norfolk Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1881
2nd edition published 1907
3rd edition published 1950
OS 25" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1906

Illustrations
H Repton, watercolour views in Hanworth Park, 1790s (Colman Collection, Castle Museum, Norwich)

Archival items
Estate accounts, late C18 (private collection)
Aerial photographs, 1983 (Norfolk Aerial Survey Collection)

Description written: October 1999
Register Inspector: EMP
Edited: February 2001

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

2006

Legacy System:

Parks and Gardens

End of official list entry

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